Castleton has played with Brother Ali, Mike Doughty, Common, The Roots, De La Soul, Ray LaMontagne, Mos Def, Sugarhill Gang, Wilco, Incubus, Fun Lovin' Criminals, 3rd Eye Blind, Save Ferris, Luscious Jackson, Joe Cocker, Awol One, and many others I didn't list here.

I do this thing on my last.fm account, if I find an album that's too good to take just one song from I'll post it as my album of the moment. I figured it couldn't hurt to do that here as well seeing as how so many people I know don't follow last.fm. And seeing as how you can't listen to samples here like you can there I figured I'd pick one of the tracks to post just to give you an example...

Anywho, my current album of the moment is Stick'em up! by Pistol Valve a new kind of j-pop, almost j-ska band, but that's not quite right either. For now I'm calling them a j-Fusion band. Pistol Valve is an all girl Japanese band formed in 2005. What's more it's not your run of the mill 3, 4 or even 5 piece band, it's a 10 piece all girl Japanese band with saxiphones, trumpets, violins, even a french horn! And though the girls are young (the average age is 20) they're all professionals in their fields, trained in some of the best schools in Japan.

Known throughout Japan as the act to see and renowned for their random street performances scattered about Tokyo, Pistol Valve is quickly becoming a staple in the Japanese mainstream media. Fusing a smattering of punk, rock, ska, funk, soul, blues, classical, jazz, be-bop and bubble gum rock Pistol Valve creates a sound as unique as they are and with two full albums already under their belts they don't show any sign of slowing down. Hopefully we'll see a lot more of these girls in the years to come.

As promised here is a small taste, it's the first track off the album and the title track. It also happens to be the only instrumental track, but it's short, sweet and a whole lot of fun! So listen up and I hope you enjoy it.

As always boys and girls, share and share alike.
Matt